Apparatus for treating pulp-stock.



No. 768,305. PATENTED AUG. 23, 1904 I J. H. RIVERS. APPARATUS FOR TREATING PULP STOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.13, 1903. N0 MODEL. 3 SHBETS SHEBT 1.

No. 768,805. PATENTED AUG. 23, 1904.

J. H. RIVERS. APPARATUS FOR TREATING PULP STOCK.

APPLIGATION FILED MAR. 13, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

u Ilium? PATENTED AUG.'23, 1904..

J. H. RIVERS. APPARATUS FOR TREATING PULP STOCK.

APPLICATION FILED MAE.13, 1903.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

NO MODEL.

[72 Z76 72%07': Jele'arzfljiivers,

.Z'fngses I JULIAN 'H. RIVERS, OFST. LOUIS,

iatented August 23, 1904- PATENT OFFICE.

MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED STATES FIBER STOPPER COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA.v

APPARATUS FOR TREATING PULP-STOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 768,305, dated August 23, 1904.

Application filed March 13, 1903.

To all whom, it may concern.-

, Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Treating Pulp-Stock, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it ap: pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the .accompanying drawings, forming part of this Specification, in wh ich Figure 1 is a side elevation of the entire apparatus. Fig. 2 is an end view looking from the left of Fig. 1, the forming-machine being removed and the exhaust-pipe being broken. Fig. 8 is a top planview of the condensing mechanism. Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is atransverse sectional elevation on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4:. Fig.6 is a side elevation of.

the drying or bat-forming device. Fig. 7 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same. Fig. 8 is a detail view of the hopper and the governor, said hopper being Shown in sec-- tional elevation. Fig. 9 is atop plan view of the hopper and its valve mechanism, and Fig. 10 is a detail view.

Myinvention relates to apparatus for treating pulp-stock.

Among my objects are to provide an appa- .ratus by means of which the pulp in a relatively fluid condition will be so treated that it can be fed from the apparatus in such condition that it can be readily acted upon by a forming-machine or the like, to provide means whereby the supply of pulp to the apparatus is automatically maintained properly proportioned with relation to the output of the apparatus to provide means whereby the pulp can be efficiently preliminarily dried and formed into a thin bat, to provide means whereby without interfering with the proper preliminary drying a relatively large amount of pulp in its preliminarily-dried condition can be fed to the condensing mechanism, to provide means for gradually condensing the pulp, and to provide means for extracting moisture from the pulp while such pulp is being fed to the Serial No. 147,635. 1N0 model.)

condensing devices and at the same time assisting In such ieeding of the pulp.

- To these ends and also to lmprove generally upon apparatus of the character indicated my invention consists in the various matters hereinafter described and claimed.

Generally considered the present apparatus comprises a hopper or reservoir A, a drying or bat-forming device B, and a condensing mechanism O, thedrawings illustrating the presentIembodiment of myinvention showing the condensing mechanismdelivering to a Suitable forming-machine. D and showing the various parts and mechanisms supported upon a suitable frame The governor forcontrolling the valve for the discharge-opening in the hopperor reservoir is markedF. The pulp in a highly-fluid condition is delivered toithe hopper or reservoirAin any suitable manner. and is ,fed from the same to which it is delivered in a, thin bat to atraveling screen, which may be termed a portion of the condensing mechanism. This'screen carries the pulp beneath certain condensingrollers and then delivers the condensed pulp mass or web to the forming-machine D. Dur-v ing the time that the pulp is spread upon the before-mentioned screen of the condensing mechanism it is subjected to the influence of suction, by meansof which the pulp is held upon the said screen and moisture is extracted from said pulp.

The firmne.The frame can be of any suitable construction, and I have here shown the same as made of lengths of gas-pipe suitably connected- In the @frame illustrated I have provided what may be termed intermediate uprights 1 which are connected at their upper portions by cross-bars 2 and 3, arranged one below the other, a third cross-bar 4: being arranged slightly below the before-mentioned lower cross-bar 3. Extending laterally upon one side of each of the said intermediate Sup ports 1 are horizontal, upper and lower bars 5 and 6, which are connected at their outer ends by a vertical bar 7, whereby substantially rectangular frameslare produced, Suitto such additional shorter uprights 11 as may able inclined braces 8 extending between the outer ends of said rectangular frames and the lower ends of said intermediate uprights 1. Upon the side of the uprights, opposite the before-mentioned rectangular frames, are shorter uprights 9. to which is connected a horizontal beam 10, a similar beam being connected to the before-mentioned uprights 1 and be necessary for proper support, the said horizontal beams being connected by suitable cross-beams 12. At one end of the frame is a support 13 for the forming-machine D.

The hoppererresereoiva-Tl1e hopper or reservoirillustrated is supported upon the horizontal bars 6 of the rectangular frames including such bars and is a tank or vat open at its top and provided with a discharge-opening 14: in its bottom. Suitable valve-plates 15 for controlling said opening slide upon the bottom wall of the hopper and between such bottom and suitable horizontal guides 16. Suitably journaled to the sides of the reservoir and extending across the same is a rockshaft 17, from one end of which depends a rock-arm 18, which is connected by a link 19 with one of the before-mentioned valve-- plates, and suitably pivoted upon the interior of one side wall of the reservoir is a bellcrank lever 20, whose substantially vertical arm 21 is connected by a link 22 with the other of said valve-plates, the substantially horizontal arm 23 of said bell-crank lever being connected by a link 2st with an arm 25 upon the said rock-shaft. Oppositely-extending arms 26 upon the said rock-shaft are connected by a frame-link 27 with the vertically-movable rod 28 of a governor, said rod being moved and controlled by the governorarms 29 in a manner which will be readily understood. The governor is supported upon the upper cross-bar 2 of the frame, and its operating-shaft 30 is also supported upon said cross-bar and is provided with a suitable driving-pulley 31.

It will be noticed that each valve-plate covers a portion of the discharge-opening 1 1. By reason of the above-described connections between the rock-shaft 17 and the said valve plates said plates are given differential movement with relation to each other upon the rocking of said shaft, the plate connected to the link 19 moving through a greater distance for a given throw of the rock-shaft than does the plate connected to the link 22, this difference of movement being clearly indicated by the dotted lines. The connection is such that upon the initial movement of the rockshaft 0., the movement imparted to said shaft by the throw of the governing-arms due to the minim um speed of the operating mechanism the valve-plate connected to the link 19 moves sufliciently to wholly clear the dischargeopening, so that the further regulations of the discharge-opening due to increased speed is effected wholly by the valve-plate connected to the link 22.

It is well known that with governors of usual construction the arms 23) are not moved through equal distances for corresponding variations in speed of the mechanism by which the governor is driven, for the more nearly the governor-arms approach the horizontal the greater is the force required to throw them through a given are. 'lherefore if the rod 28 were connected to a governor of ordinary construction the valve-plates would not be moved through an equal distance for each equal variation in speed of the shaft which drives the governor, and for this reason the supply of material from the vat would not be accurately proportioned to the speed of the operating mechanism. If, for example, the val ve-plates would so move that the effective discharge-opening would be increased an eighth of an inch for the first increase of ten revolutions above the minimum rotation of the shaft for the next increase of ten revolutions the effective opening of the discharge would be increased somewhat less than an eighth of an inch, and so on. In the present apparatus the governor-arms 29 are levers of the first order, and the arms of these levers not provided with the weights are connected by the links 25) to the vertical rod 28. This connection results in causing the valve-plates 15 to be given an equal amount of movement for equal variations in speed of the shaft which drives the governor, notwithstanding the fact that the governor-arms 2%) do not move through equal arcs for equal variations in speed of said shaft.

The pre/ilnjlur/ dry [11g 01' all fo/v/ti/zg (Zevicc.l)epending from the cross-bar 4 are hangers 32, in which is journaled a horizontal shaft 33, provided upon one end with a driving-pulley 3d. Near one end of said shaft and intermediate the said hangers are radial arms 35, which are fixed to said shaft and form spokes supporting a rim 36, this rim and its spokes serving as a supporting-hmul for one end of a cylindrical screen 37, which lies intermediate the said hangers 32, the other end of said cylindrical screen being stiffened by a ring 38, secured to the same. \Yithin said cylindrical screen is a cup or receptacle 39, which has its upper end open and can be conveniently a little more than half of a cylinder. The heads or ends 10 of said cup are provided with openings, through which the shaft 33 loosely passes, said heads being preferably provided about said shaft with antifrictionrollers 11. By reason of this construction the said cup hangs from the said shaft and remains substantially stationary at all times, while the screen rotates with the shaft. A suitable discharge-pipe a1 leads from the lower portion of the said cup and extends outwardly through the space inclosed by the before-mentioned ring 38.

. which will be readily apparent.

Aninclined feed-trough 42, suitably supported from the before-mentioned bars '6, empties upon the periphery of the said screen 37, and upon the side of the vertical axis of said screen opposite that upon which the conveyer-screen of the condensing mechanism is located a suitable flexible apron 43, preferably extending from the discharge end of said trough and resting upon the periphery of the said cylindrical screen in a manner A discharge 44 from thehopper or reservoir empties upon the said trough, so that material is delivered from the said reservoir A in a very fluid condition and reaches the revolving screen 37 in such condition. After being delivered to the trough 42 it spreads upon said trough and is thus delivered over the whole width of the substantially broad rotating screen in a thin sheet. A great deal of the water readily falls through the meshes of the said screen and is caught in the drip-cup 39, from which it is conveyed by the pipe 41, and the pulp is thus so dried that it is delivered from the said screen in a thin bat.

I preferably provide means for preventing any possibility of the thin bat adhering to the bat-forming cylinder and being thus carried around by said cylinder instead ofnproperly deposited upon the carrier of the condensing mechanism. As here shown, this means comprises a pipe 85, which extends inside of the said screen and between the same and the drip-cup, said pipe having an elongated discharge-opening 86, so that air supplied to the pipe is directedin a blast against the thin bat, near the lower portion of the screen. Thus as the screen rotates the thin bat is brought under the influence of the air-blast and is blown from the supporting wire mesh.

The condensing mac/activism. -Journaled between suitable standards supported upon the longitudinal horizontal frame-beams 10 are drums 45, which support an endless conveyerscreen 46, said conveyer-screen being below the delivery-point of the rotating screen 37 and traveling in a line substantially at right angles to the plane of rotation of the said. screen 37. Suitable brackets 47, near the before-mentioned rollers 45 and. intermediate the same, rise from the said beams 10 upon opposite sides of the said conveyer-screen and support cross-bars 48, upon which rest longi.

'tudinal beams .49, over which the upper-portion of the said conveyer-screen travels, so-

that said beams 49 support a portion of the weight of the pulp mass upon the said screen,

and prevent the latter from sagging. Crossbars 50, supported upon the before-mentioned from said longitudinal bars 51 near the delivery end of said conveyer-screen are a-series supported. can obviously be effected in many ways, and

of bracket-plates 52, 'upon which are sup-. ported shafts 53 for condensing rollers' 54,

said shafts 53- being preferably adjustably The adjustability of these shafts in the present embodiment of my invention I have shown the bracketplate as provided with vertical slots 55 in which the ends of the shafts are received, the shafts being clamped in adjusted positions in any convenient manher, as by providing one end of each shaft with a head 56 and the other end of said shaft with an adjusting-nut 57.

Resting upon the upper portion of the conveyer-screen is a frame having longitudinal side bars 58, which preferably lie above the supporting-beams 49, and rising from the inner sides of said side bars are guide-plates 59, which are connected by suitable cross ties or braces 60, a cross-tie 61 also connecting the said side bars 58 at what may be termed their flexible connector 62 has one end attached to said cross-tie 61 and its other end connected to some suitable relatively fixed member 6. g., a plate 63 connected to and depending from the cross-bar 50 at the receiving end of the said screen. In this manner the guide-. frame, which rests upon the screen, has certain freedom of movement and can thus adapt itself to. inequalities in the conveyer-screen, the said frame being thus permitted at all timesto fit sufficiently closely upon the screen to prevent escape of pulp under the frame.

In order to control the end of the guideframe near the delivery end of the conveyerscreen, I preferably provide the cross-bar 50 near said delivery end of the screen with a guide-plates.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that the thin bat delivered from the rotating drying or bat-forming screen 37 falls upon the conveyor-screenof the compressing mechanism, saidbat being delivered between the guide-plates59 of the before-mentioned guide-frame. Owing to the fact that the said conveyer-screen 46 travels in a line at substantially right angles to the plane in which the bat forming screen rotates, the whole width of the thin bat is delivered upon said conveyer-screen, thus permitting a relatively. large amount of pulp in such thin bat form to be fed to said conveyer-screen. Guided between the guide-plates 59 the pulp delivered to they said conveyor-screen is carried beneath the compressing-rolls .54, and as these rolls are The raceway or' supply-trough 67, leadpreferably arranged at decreasing distances from the upper surface of the conveyer-sereen the pulp is gradually condensed, and thus brought into the condition in which it is desired that it be fed to the forming-machine. From the condensing-rolls the screen feeds the pulp into the feed raceway or trough 67 of said machine.

In conjunction with the condensing mechanism I prefer to employ means for assisting in holding the pulp upon the conveyer-screen and for extracting some of the moisture in said pulp while the same rests upon said screen. Suitably supported intermediate the upper and lower parts of the conveyer-screen, as by connection with the supporting-beams 49, is a casing 68, whose open top is immediately below the pulp-carrying portion of said screen, an eduction-pipe 69 leading from said casing to the eye of a suitable exhaust-fan 70. I prefer to provide a trap 71 in the said pipe 69 intermediate the said casing and the said fan, said trap being conveniently provided with a draw-off cock 7 2. Thus the fan being operated air is exhausted from the said casing 68 and the pulp upon the eonveyer-screen is consequently held upon said screen while certain of the moisture in said pulp is sucked into the casing 68. This moisture enters the pipe 69, but is prevented from being conveyed to the fan by reason of the fact that before reaching such fan the moisture falls into the trap 71, from which it is discharged at desired intervals through the draw-off cock 72.

General organization and 0pe/'(tti0n.In the present embodiment of my invention 73 indicates the driving-shaft of the formingmachine D, this shaft being driven from any suitable source of power. J ournaled upon the frame E is a longitudinallyextending horizontal main shaft 74;, which is in driving connection with the shaft 73, as by means of beveled gears 75. One of the drums 45 is provided with a gear 76, which is connected in any convenient manner (as through the gear 77) with a gear 7 8, mounted upon a shaft 79, provided with a beveled gear 80, in mesh With a cooperating beveled gear 81 upon the main shaft 7 4:. Pulleys 82 and 83 upon said main shaft are connected. respectively, with the before-mentioned pulleys 34L (upon the shaft of the bat-forming device B) and 31, (upon the governor-driving shaft 30.) Thus power for operating all of the moving parts of the present apparatus, including the formingmachine, is derived from a single source and the various moving parts are compelled to move at the desired speed with relation to each other. Furthermore, the supply of material from the hopper or reservoir A is proportioned to the amount of material delivered from the conveyer-screen 4:6 and operated upon by the forming-machine D.

In practice the gearing is such that the conveyer-screen 46 of the condensing mechanism runs at a relatively low rate of speed, while the drying and bat-forming cylinder 37 runs at a somewhat higher rate of speed. Thus provision is made for supplying ample material to the conveyor-screen 46 in order to permit this material to be condensed into the desired condition for delivery to the formingmachine. The pulp in a highly-fluid condition is fed to the hopper or reservoir A in any suitable manner, passes in the desired quantity to the feed-trough -LE2, upon which it spreads into a thin sheet, and is delivered in this thin sheet to the drying and bat-forming device B. A great deal of the moisture passes from the pulp while upon the screen of this bat-forming device and is caught in the cup 3.) and delivered from the apparatus, the pulp in a thin bat being delivered from the screen 37 to the conveyer-screen 46. \Vhile upon this eonveyer-sereen further moisture is extracted from the pulp and the pulp is conveyed to rolls, by which it is gradually condensed, the condensed pulp being then fed to the forming-machine.

I am aware that minor changes in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of my device can be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without in the least departing from the nature and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1.'ln an apparatus of the character indicated, means for spreading the pulp in asheet, a pulp-receivingchannel of less width than said sheet and into which channel said pulp is delivered from said spreading means, and pulpcondensingmechanism in said channel; substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus of the character indicated, a movable screen upon which the pulp is fed, a pulp-treating device, and a feed mem ber between said movable screen and said pulp-treating device, said feed member and screen being at substantially right angles to each other; substantially as described.

3. In an apparatus of the character indicated, a member for forming the pulp into a web, a member for treating the pulp, and a feeding device between said web-forming and said pulp-treating members, said feeding de vice being substantially at right angles to said web-forming member; substantially as described.

i. In an apparatus of the character indi cated, a traveling pulp-drying screen whose entire pulp-bearing surface is free from pressure, pulp-condensing mechanism, and means for feeding the dried pulp from said screen to said condensing mechanism; substantially as described.

5. In an apparatus of the character indicated, a reservoir having an opening, two valveplates controlling said opening, each of said plates controlling a portion of said opening,

and automatic governor mechanism in operative connection with each of said plates and including means for giving said plates differential movement with respect to each other; substantially as described.

6. In an apparatus of the character indicated, a reservoir having an opening, two valveplates controlling said opening, eachof said plates controlling a portion of said opening, a governor, and connection between said governor and said plates for giving said plates differential movement with respect to each other; substantially as described.

7. I A reservoir having a discharge-opening, valve-plates controlling said opening, a rockshaft, connection between said rock-shaft and said respective valve-plates, a governor, and

connection between said governor and said rock-shaft; substantially as described.

8. The combination with a traveling conveyer adapted to recieve the material being acted upon, of a guide-frame loosely supported upon said conveyer; substantially as described.

9. The combination with. a conveyer adapted to receive the material being acted .upon, of a guide-frame upon said conveyer having -'pin connectionbetween said support and the other end of said frame; substantially as described. v

12. The combination with supporting-beams, of a conveyer traveling over the same, and deckles upon said conveyer and above and in line with said supporting-beams; substantially as described. t

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature, in the presence'of two witnesses, this 28th day of January, 1903.

Witnesses:

G. A. PENNINGTON, GEORGE BAKEWELL.

JULIAN H. RIVERS. 1 

